


Strange Waters

by Cinder



Series: Whumptober 2019 [2]
Category: Charmed (TV 2018)
Genre: F/M, I might continue this as a multi-chap fit later on, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-24 09:49:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21097484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinder/pseuds/Cinder
Summary: Harry has an unusual run-in during his morning walk along the beach.*For Day 16 of Whumptober: "Pinned Down".





	Strange Waters

Harry Greenwood had seen many odd things during his dawn walks on the beach: garbage that had floated in from the ocean; partiers sleeping in the sand, their bonfire still burning; and once, baby sea turtles making their trek into the water. 

But he had never, in his life, encountered anything like this. 

“It’s alright, I’m not here to hurt you,” Harry said. The mermaid tried to curl further into herself, but the net tightened around her, preventing more movement. She was pinned down, a captive on the beach. For a moment, Harry felt useless, and then he perked up. 

“I’ll be right back, I think I have something that can help you,” he slowly walked away, knowing that any rushing would inspire more panic in her. 

Once he was out sight, though, he ran to his car. He dug through the glovebox, muttering with impatience as he pushed aside fast food napkins, old CD cases, and papers. Finally, he found what he was looked for, tucked away in a corner. 

A small Swiss Army knife, complete with mini scissors and blade. It wouldn’t do the job nearly as fast as regular sized tools, but he had to take what he could get. He rushed back to the beach, slowing as he came into sight of the mermaid.

The mermaid’s eyes tracked him as he got closer, following every moment. He crouched down a little ways away from her, trying to seem as non-threatening as possible. Something that as going to be hard, considering he’d have to approach her with a knife in just a minute. 

“I have something that can cut you free,” he said, pointing to the net, and then making a sawing motion with his hands. “So you can get back to the ocean.” He pointed to the wide expanse of water just beyond them. When the mermaid didn’t make any movement, he slowly straightened up. “I’m going to try and free you now,” he said. He wasn’t sure if any of this was making sense to her, but he hoped his slow movements and voice would make it slightly clearer that he wasn’t here to harm her.

Slowly, he showed her the Swiss Army knife, and then brought up the knife blade. She flinched slightly as it came out, and her breathing began to rapidly increase. Harry picked up a piece of netting that wasn’t wrapped around her, and cut through it first, hoping to show her what he intended. When the small piece of netting fell away from the larger amount, he held it up to her. “See?” 

The mermaid looked at the netting, then at the knife, then back at him. Finally, she nodded. 

It took awhile to free her – Harry was petrified of moving too quickly and startling her, or of accidentally poking her with the knife, and making her think he was a threat. The netting was wrapped so tightly around her that he would sometimes have to cut her link by link. As he peeled away the netting, he could see that the fishline had cruelly dug into her scales and flesh, cutting her as she had attempted to free herself. 

Eventually, the last of the netting fell away from her, and the mermaid was free. Both of them hesitated, unsure of what to do. Harry wished he could have her wait, so he could bring back a first aid kit and dress her wounds, but he wasn’t sure what would even work on mermaid injuries. Would hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol even have an effect, or would it make things worse instead of better? And how the hell was she supposed to keep bandages on her body when the ocean would just make them soggy and peel them away? 

Finally, the mermaid slowly began to drag herself back towards the ocean, her eyes still on Harry, and he was shaken out of his thoughts. 

“Would you like me to carry you back to the water?” he asked, pointing to himself, her, and the ocean. 

The mermaid hesitated. “Yes, please.” 

Harry’s trained calm broke as he heard her voice. “You can talk! You can speak English?” 

“I learned from overhearing conversations on the shore,” the mermaid said. It was clear this wasn’t her first language – she had to think hard before she spoke, pausing during her sentences as she tried to find the right words.

“Well, then…” Harry tried to find something comforting to say. “I’m glad we can communicate.”

The mermaid gave a smile. “Me too.” 

“I’m going to pick you up, and take you back to the water, if that’s alright with you?” 

The mermaid nodded. “Yes.”

Harry picked her up, careful to wrap his arms around the areas with the least amount of cuts. He felt incredibly surreal – one moment he had been having his normal dawn walk along the beach, now he was carrying a previously fantastical creature back to the ocean. 

He waded into the ocean, walking for the deeper areas, so that the mermaid would be able to swim free, rather than having to crawl along the sand. He was up to his knees in the water when something crashed into him. 

He fell into the water, his arms tightening automatically around the mermaid. He tried to get up, but something dashed forward, grabbing him by the throat, holding him underwater. A face, full of fury, appeared in front of him, eyes blazing. 

Suddenly words, flowing and musical, not in English, reached his ears. In the panic, it took him a minute to figure out that that the words were coming from the mermaid in his arms. 

At the sound of the words, the hands around his throat disappeared, and the furious face drew back. Arms looped themselves under his shoulders and pulled him back to the surface. 

He broke the water gasped and spluttering, embarrassingly spitting out water and trying to aim away from the mermaid still in his arms. He turned his head, and saw a young woman, doe-eyes and innocent smile, looking at him. 

Then, next to her, a head popped out of the water. This woman was no longer furious, but was still glaring at him, this time in suspicion. 

The mermaid in his arms tugged his sleeve to get his attention. Then she pointed to the two mermaids. “My sisters.” 

Harry nodded. “I take it they thought I was the one who had trapped you?”

“Yes. But I told them the truth.” 

“Thank you,” the doe eyed one said. The glaring one just kept glaring. 

“Well then, if you’re in safe hands, I guess this is where I leave you,” Harry said. He felt a rush of disappointment. For a second it felt like he had wandered into another world, but now he had to leave it and go back to his old one. One where he was a just a lonely professor, his thoughts haunted by his deceased son and estranged ex-wife. 

He gently lowered the mermaid into the water. “Will you be alright? With your injuries, I mean?”

“We’ll take care of her,” the glaring mermaid said. The mermaid that he had rescued just stared up at him, giving him a shy, warm smile, and nodding. 

“Then I…hope you have a good day. And stay safe from nets,” he said. He gave them a nod, and turned away, to go back to shore. 

“Wait.” He turned back, to see the rescued mermaid still looking at him. “May we…see you again?”

“I…” They wanted to see him again? Him, a regular, average human? “Is it safe for you?”

“We’ll be careful.”

“Then yes, I would…very much like to see you…” he looked at the other two mermaids, “you three, again.” He pointed to the beach. “I take a morning walk here each dawn. Maybe we could meet there sometime?”

“We will be there,” the mermaid said. Then she turned and disappeared into the ocean with a swish of her fins. Her sisters followed her. 

Harry looked at the water for a long time.

*

“How in the HELL did you let her get away?” 

Parker Caine stood against the wall, trying to not to reveal any signs of fear. He tried to remind himself that it wasn’t him who his father was raging at, that he was safe. But he knew better. When his father was furious, he could turn on anyone in a heartbeat.

“She was stronger than I thought,” Hunter said. 

“You mean you were having fun taunting her, and weren’t doing your job properly,” Alastair yelled, throwing his glass against the wall. He wasn’t normally one to drink whisky so early in the morning, but when it came to his sons’ stupidity, he felt he was entitled to it. After all, it wasn’t everyday you had a mermaid in your grasp, and then let it get away because of sheer stupidity. 

“Find her. Comb every single inch of this beach.”

“We’ve already looked - she’s gone.”

“Then LOOK AGAIN. And see if there was anyone around who saw her.” 

“You want us to go around asking people if they’ve seen a mermaid?” Hunter asked. 

“I want you to see if anyone has noticed anything unusual.” Alastair said through clenched teeth. “I want that mermaid, and I want to know how she managed to get away.”


End file.
